Fishing is a sport enjoyed by millions. One type of fishing enjoyed by many people is fly fishing. In fly fishing, a lure known as a "fly" is attached to a line controlled by a fishing rod and reel. The fly fisherman casts the line and fly in a manner which delivers the fly to a selected location. Many fly fisherman spend hours perfecting their casting technique so that a fly may be delivered with accuracy to a desired location on the surface of a body of water and impact upon the body of water in a manner closely resembling the impact of a particular insect on that body of water. Over the years, fly fishing equipment has become very sophisticated. Fly rods are made of bamboo, space age composite materials and other similar materials to have specific flex characteristics which vary over the length of the rod in accordance with patterns which aid casting. Fly lines are often comprised of a length of backing line, a taper section, a leader and a tippet. Each section of the line is manufactured with special characteristics to aid in casting of the fly and line in accordance with the fisherman's desires. Fly fishing line is accordingly expensive. Fly reels have also developed into precision instruments. They are normally comprised of a frame which is fixed to the fly rod and supports a spindle and a spool which comprises a hub and two side walls. The spool is releasably retained on the spindle and holds the body of line being used. Spools are often equipped with a counterweight and handle or other means of being rotated so that following a cast, a fly fisherman may retrieve his line and fly in a controlled manner. Additional controls are often included on a fly reel to aid in the control of the line. These reels are often comprised of parts fabricated of light weight materials, such as aluminum alloy, and precisely fitted to provide a smooth, well balanced mechanism.
The spools are often releasable from the frame of the fly reel for a number of reasons. These reasons include the ability to change lines easily by simply changing spools and ease in cleaning the fly reel.
When a fly reel is not in use, fisherman have improvised means of retaining the line on the reel. These include tying the line to the base and other methods. When a spool containing line is removed from the reel or when the reel is not in use, retaining of the line becomes more difficult.
This and other problems are overcome by the present invention wherein a fly fishing reel is provided with a line retainer.